To make a garden more useful to wildlife, leave some cover, keep a source of clean water and choose plants that offer food at different times of year. You can do this without turning the whole yard wild. Even one less-tidy corner can give birds and other animals a place to shelter.
Leave food and shelter in place
When every stem is cut down at the end of the growing season, the garden loses seed heads and some of the cover that animals use. Leaving a few standing perennials, fallen twigs or a less formal planting area preserves more of that space through winter. Seed-bearing plants can feed birds; brush may offer shelter. Keep the areas you use for walking clear, and decide where a looser look works for your yard. Our winter garden article describes the choice to leave Black-eyed Susan and coneflower seed heads standing.
Think about the structure of the yard as well as its flowers. Both evergreen and deciduous shrubs can offer cover, though they do different jobs through the year. A rock wall, pond or standing dead tree may also provide habitat in the right situation. A dead tree near a house or a walkway can be hazardous, so have it assessed rather than keeping it simply for wildlife.
Choose plants for the place you have
Plants native to your area are a good starting point, but no one plant supplies everything every animal needs. Check whether a prospective shrub or perennial suits your soil, light and available space, and consider what is already growing nearby. Our native plants guide can help you begin that search. Nature’s Friends Landscaping can help you choose plants that fit your garden and your goals for it.
A mixed planting gives you more options than relying on a single shrub. Look at what flowers or sets seed in the garden now, and at the seasons when there is little available. That observation is a better guide for the next planting than assuming wildlife will use every plant in the same way.
Keep water fresh
A pond or stream may provide water already. Otherwise, a bird bath can be a simple addition. A very shallow place at the edge can make water available to smaller visitors, including butterflies. Change the water often and clean the bath so it does not become a place for mosquitoes to breed. Put it where you can reach it easily; a bath that is hard to maintain is less useful.
If you want to explore the idea of a certified wildlife habitat, check the National Wildlife Federation’s current requirements directly. For another look at how garden plants and animals meet, read Find Friends in the Garden.
